Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-11-10
EYES OF THE BEE.
Ssrectures Whose CompIexity In Difncult OF

''ures Whose CompIexity Is Dimcult OF
Comprehension.
any one who will take the trouble to
examine with a lens the head of bee
VIII see on either side the large, round
cd compound eye. aud on the forehead
OF Vertex three bright little simple eyes.
Ahe latser are, as their name implies.
comparatively simple in structure, each
with single lens. But the compound
eyes have complex structure. Exter-
nally the surface is seen to be divided
up into a great number of hexagonal
areas, each of which is called a facet,
and forms little lens. OF these the
queen bee has on each side nearly 5, O00
the worker some 5000 and the drone
upward of $4,000. Peneath each facet
is crystalline cone. \ so-called nerve
rod, and other struci ares, too complex
20 be here described. which pass inward
coward the brain. twill be seen, then,
shat the so-called compound eye with
'ts thousands of facets, its thousands of
crystalline cones, its thousands of
-'nerve rods" and other elements, is a
structure of no little complexity. The
question now arises: Is it one structure
or many? Is it an eye or an aggregate
Of eyesP To this question the older
naturalists answered cOnfidently-an
aggregate. And simple experiment
seems to warrant this conclusion. Pu-
get, quoted in Goldsmith Animated
Nature" adapted the facets of the eye
of f-pardon me. fair reader, of a
aphanipterous insect of the genus Pu-
lex-so as to see objects through it
under the microscope. ga soldier who
was thus seen appeared like an army
of pigmies, for while it multiplied
1t also diminished the object; the
arch of bridge exhibited spectacle
more magnificent than human skill
could perform, and the flame of a can
die seemed the illumination of thou
sands of lamps" Although Cheshire,
in his book on the bee, adopts this
view and supports it by reference to
n similar experiment. it numbers to-
'lay but few supporters. One is tempt
ed to marvel at the ability of the drone
to coordinate $4,000 separate images
into single distinct object. Picture
the CO Infusion of images of one who
had slipped too freely of the sweet but
<lelusive dregs of the punch bowl!
Under similar circumstances human
folk are reported to see double Think
of the appalling condition of an inebri-
ate drone! Those who believe the
facetted eye to be one organ with many |
parts, contend that each facet and its |
underlying structures give. not COM
plete image of the external object as n |
whole, but the image of single point |
of that object. Thus there is formed,
by the juxtaposition of contiguous
points. a stippled image or an image
an mosaic. Hence this view is
known as Muller's mosaic hypothesis.
Lowne has experimental with fine
glass threads arranged like the cones
and nerve rods of the bees eye, and
finds that (even when they are not
surrounded by pigment. as are the
clements in an insects eye) all oblique
rays are got rid of by numerous refec-
lions and the interference due to the
different lengths of the rays. Some
of the mosaic hypothesis
is now generally adopted. and DR..
has recently worked out with
great care the structure of the optic
tract which lies between the crystalline
cones and the brain. -Murray's Magd-
zine.